[davisfh]

"Last week the professors at Harvard's government department reviewed the placement records of last year's doctoral students. Two had not been able to find academic jobs, both of them Mansfield's students. "Well," Mansfield quipped, "I guess they'll have to go to Washington and run the country."

My guess is that, in the end, one must be true to one's self. We must be what and who we are and not attempt to fit into a mold that someone else has constructed for us.

In my opinion, nothing can be less rewarding than living up to someone else's expectations. As for me, I had rather sweep floors and be in possession of my own thoughts than to earn millions and be forever beholden to the ideology of another.

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP - EDUCATION

[bat1816]

This article states almost exactly why I left the History profession.

[Elliott Jackalope]

There is another consequence of this kind of bias. The fact is that although liberals rule the world of academia, most people who own and run businesses are conservative. The end result is that those of us in "the real world" have become less and less impressed by diplomas, relying more on real ability as demonstrated by people working on projects in the real world.

Sure, the big companies demand that increasingly worthless sheepskin, but the majority of employers in America are small businesses that employ less than fifty people. Once upon a time a degree was something that gave you an edge over other people when you were looking for a job. Nowadays that degree is becoming less of an edge and more of a millstone.

For the real kicker, factor in what that degree costs to obtain. What a rip off! You want to "visualize world peace", young college graduate? Here's a challenge, why not visualize how long you are going to be paying off your student loans!

[John H K]

A person who voted for President Bush may be viewed as an oddity, but the main problem in finding a job is that the sorts of subjects a conservative is likely to investigate — say, diplomatic or military history — do not excite hiring committees.

This has been true for a while. Look for actual military history or diplomacy courses and you'll find an older male (60+) conservative history professor about 99.99% of the time.

That sort of thing...history of empires, of great men, etc....is horribly uncool these days.

What is cool is studying the most mind-numbingly trivial and dull thing that you can connect to political correctness; thus, in a history department, you'll find all the young and middle-aged profs, and all the women, teaching "The Role of Lesbian Women in Ottoman Society in the 14th Century" and whatnot.

[Hobsonphile]

Leftism on Campus ping!

If you would like to be added to the Leftism on Campus ping list, please
notify me via FReep-mail.

Regards...

[RightWingAtheist]

I've just started my Ph.d program at U of Minnesota, and so far I've put myself "in the closet" politically, so to speak. The first thing I did when I moved into my new office was take down the "WELLSTONE!" banner which was hanging above my desk, but I otherwise haven't done anything which would set off alarm bells. Oddly enough, when I did my Master's degree at Wayne State, the liberal faculty not only actually welcomed hearing my dissenting views, they practically demanded it.

[dennisw]

ping

[July 4th]

Some politicized humanities departments may be closed to them, he concedes, but professors in other fields are open to argument.

Like the physical sciences? Where no one cares about politics at all?

[The Westerner]

This was an excellent, objective summary of what's happening at universities. Sadly.